New campaign fights same-sex marriage

By BEN SMITH

04/07/2009 05:41 PM EDT

The National Organization for Marriage, a prominent backer of the successful campaign against same-sex marriage in California, is launching a $1.5 million ad campaign this morning aimed at forestalling same-sex marriage support in other key states.

The campaign, whose 60-second television ad is above, seeks to energize the opponents of gay marriage by making the case that it will impinge directly on their own lives. The ads will air in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Iowa.

"The biggest argument — and the biggest lie — put forward by those who want to redefine marriage is that it's not going to have any affect on you. 'Why should you care? It’s not going to have any effect on your marriage," said NOM executive director Brian Brown. "In state after state we’ve seen same-sex marriage directly conflict with people’s religious beliefs."

Brown cited the decision of Catholic Charities in Massachusetts to stop handling adoptions in response to a law banning discriminating against gays and lesbians hoping to adopt children.

Backers of same-sex marriage "are saying that it’s right for the law to treat us as evil discriminators," he said.

The ad above, another 30-second spot, feature people claiming same-sex marriage has specifically harmed them, and that with a "storm gathering," they're "afraid."

Proponents of same-sex marriage argue that the legal changes will, if anything, strengthen marriage. There have also been moves to protect groups like Catholic Charities from conflicts, and the Vermont same-sex marriage bill that became law yesterday, for instance, contains religious exemptions.

The campaign against same-sex marriage has focused increasingly on those threatened consequences in part because the mere notion of same-sex marriage — while still opposed by most Americans — has lost some of its political bite, while civil unions have gained increasingly broad acceptance. Legislators from the Vermont House to New York Senator Chuck Schumer have made the apparent calculation that there's little political cost to supporting same-sex marriage.

So campaigns against same-sex marriage, like the California campaign, have suggested that the acceptance of gay marriage will be forced into, for example, public schools, something marriage proponents argue isn't tied to the battle over marriage per se.

"Our goal is to get two million activists by the election of 2010 who support marriage, and especially to fight against the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act," Brown said.

UPDATE: The gay rights group Human Rights Campaign responds to the ad's assertions.